Emma Swan/During First Curse
Growing up in the foster care system, Emma bounces from family to family. At three years old, she is adopted by one set of foster parents who abandon her when they get their own child. Emma, now eleven years old, lives in a group home in Boston. One day, she and the other children watch as a little girl leaves in a car for a new home after being adopted. Even as the vehicle pulls away, Emma continues to stare longingly as she, too, desires a family. At seventeen, Emma breaks into a car in Portland, Oregon and meets a man, Neal, who is also attempting to steal the vehicle. Neal sneaks them into a closed amusement park where Emma learns he once had a loving home, but ran away once his father changed too much. They begin dating and pull small robbing heists. While donning a fake pregnancy belly, Emma steals items from a convenience store as Neal distracts the store owner. When they are caught by a customer, Emma feigns labor pains. As they hastily leave, Neal steals a swan keychain for her. The duo drive away and go to a hotel where Neal allows her to make a decision on the place they are going to spend their lives together. Emma picks Tallahassee. Later, Neal admits to being wanted for stealing watches and plans on escaping to Canada alone. Though Neal is against her tagging along, she takes back the stolen watches as he goes to look for someone to buy them so they can use the money for travel. While she waits for him at a meeting spot, the police arrest her for possession of stolen goods. To Emma's heartbreak, she is told Neal tipped them off. She is sent to a minimum security prison in Phoenix for eleven months. One day, Emma tests positive on a pregnancy test when she receives mail from Phuket, Thailand containing the swan keychain and car keys. Sometime during her pregnancy, she decides to give the baby up in a closed adoption. On the day Emma goes into labor and births a son, she struggles with her desire to keep the child. Though tempted to change her mind, Emma believes she simply isn't fit to be a mother. A decade later, Emma works as a bail bonds person in Boston. She pursues a fugitive named Ryan on her birthday. After turning him into the authorities, she heads back to her flat and lights a cupcake for her twenty-eighth birthday. As she wishes on the candle not to be alone on her birthday, a boy, Henry, shows up claiming to be the son that she gave up for adoption ten years ago. She panics and retreats into the bathroom, but returns to threaten Henry with a police call, but he promises to give them the excuse that she kidnapped him. She warns about her superpower to detect any lie, which leads Henry to plead for her to come home with him to Storybrooke, Maine. During the car ride home, he explains about the Dark Curse that caused all fairytale characters to be trapped. He claims every single story in his book is true and even she is in it, but Emma is still skeptical. Upon reaching town, Henry refuses to give out his address, so she gets it from the boy's therapist, Archie Hopper. She hears more strange allegations from Henry that Archie is Jiminy Cricket and everyone in town is from the Enchanted Forest. After bringing him home, Henry's adoptive mother, Regina invites her in for apple cider. Emma reassures Regina that she won't be a problem, especially since the father doesn't know Henry exists. Emma makes a passing comment on Henry's claims about fairy tales, though Regina has no knowledge of any of that. As Emma departs from the house, she sees Henry peering at her from his bedroom window. On her drive out of town, she notices he left his book on the car seat, and her . When she looks back up, a stray wolf on the road causes her to swerve the car, hit the town marker and fall unconscious. She wakes up in a jail cell, and in the next cell to hers is the town drunk, Leroy while a mechanic, Marco, is fixing a sink in the room. The sheriff, Graham, arrives to unlock Leroy's cell and allow him to go. Emma alleges a wolf in the middle of the road distracted her, though he bets she was drunk on Regina's apple cider. Storming into the sheriff's office, Regina reports Henry has run away again. After some snooping, Emma questions Mary Margaret Blanchard, Henry's teacher, because he previously used her credit card to make a payment on a birth mother tracking site. When they are alone, Mary Margaret suggests checking Henry's castle playground where he usually frequents. At the playground, Emma returns Henry's book to him as he laments in disappointment over the lack of change since bringing her back. He requests her to stay in town for a week to prove he's right about the curse. When he claims his life sucks, Emma explains her own sob story of being abandoned many times. Henry insists she wasn't discarded and came through from another world. After dropping him off again, Emma shares with Regina the coincidence of how she and Henry met. Regina, however, wants Emma to have nothing further to do with Henry, who she has no legal right to. Despite that Regina says she loves Henry, Emma is not convinced. She takes Henry's advice and checks into an inn for a week. By chance, she meets the town rent collector, Mr. Gold, there. The next morning, Emma receives apples from Regina for her trip back to Boston. She asserts that Regina telling her to leave is just encouraging her to stay, particularly to make sure Henry is okay. Regina insists she has things under control, clarifying that Henry is in therapy and warns Emma not to underestimate her power. Emma doesn't take Regina seriously and goes the town diner. She nearly eats one of Regina's apples when the waitress, Ruby, gives her a hot chocolate and says it's from an admirer. She mistakenly believes it's Graham and walks over to reject his offering. From another table booth, Henry announces that he sent it and invites her to walk him to school. On the way there, Emma attempts to eat the apple again, but Henry believes it's poisonous and throws it away. He wants to investigate the curse afflicting Storybrooke. Emma, still skeptical, plays along with him. Henry suggests they adopt the code name "Operation Cobra" to keep the Evil Queen off their trail. Puzzled, Emma is given storybook pictures of what Henry claims is herself as an infant. At the school grounds, Mary Margaret brings up Henry's fairytale theory to Emma. She is shocked that Henry thinks Mary Margaret is Snow White, which would make the schoolteacher her mother, but when asked what her own counterpart is, Emma says she isn't in the book. Emma visits Henry's therapist, Archie Hopper. They talk about Henry's fascination with fairytales and he urges she must never use the word "crazy" as it could damage the boy. Archie discloses that the fairytales are Henry's way of coping with personal problems such as his difficult relationship with Regina. Concerned for the boy's wellbeing, Archie hands over Henry's file to her. Returning to the guest room, Emma looks over the file when Graham shows up to arrest her for stealing a file from Archie's office, though she pieces together that Regina is framing her. She is brought to the station for mug shots, but Mary Margaret arrives to bail her out. Once freed, Emma buys a chainsaw and cuts through the branches of Regina's apple tree. Satisfied with Regina's livid reaction, she attests that a shoddy arrest is not going to scare her off and tells the mayor to watch out. Despite the warning, Emma is quickly evicted from the inn due to the mayor's last minute reminder of a "no-felons policy". Next, her car is booted just as Regina calls to arrange a meeting with her. In person, Regina apologies for her actions due to being afraid Emma is going to take Henry away. Emma's only concern is making sure Henry is fine since he seems so troubled. On further prompting, she talks about how his imagination mixes reality and fantasy, which is "crazy". Henry is extremely hurt at overhearing her words and runs off. Again, Emma realizes too late that Regina purposely made her look bad. In the meantime, Emma goes to Mary Margaret's apartment to pay her back for the bail money. Mary Margaret offers to be a listening ear to her problems and counsels her against leaving town because she needs to protect Henry. Deciding to make things right, Emma bursts into Archie's office. She hastily accepts Archie's apology for what happened earlier and talks to Henry. She reasons it's a lot to ask anyone to believe in a curse that, crazily, may be true. From that, Emma regains Henry's trust by telling him she told Regina what was necessary to throw her off their trail as they work to break the curse. To prove her point, she takes the storybook pictures and burns them in the fireplace so Regina will never find out. With his faith restored, Henry happily runs to hug Emma. Out of a place to stay, Emma begins sleeping in her car while looking for open rooms in the town newspaper. By chance, Mary Margaret offers Emma a spare room in her apartment. Emma turns her down citing she is not the roommate type. The next day, at the playground, Henry claims to have found Emma's father and shows her a photo of Prince Charming in the story book. Due to his persistence about the matter, she helps convince Mary Margaret to read to a comatose patient, John Doe, who Henry stubbornly believes is Prince Charming. Emma hopes with Mary Margaret's help, Henry will eventually see fairytales are not real. The following morning, Mary Margaret gushes to Emma and Henry about John Doe grabbed her hand. Emma follows them to the hospital and discovers John Doe has disappeared from his room. She finds it strange the mayor is getting herself involved in the case, though Regina gives a recollection of how she found John Doe on the side of the road and became his emergency contact. Despite that Regina pushes her to stay out of the situation, Emma ignores her advice and she, along with Mary Margaret and Graham, look over security tapes in the hospital from last night, which show John Doe getting up and walking out the back exit into the forest. In the woods, Graham tracks John Doe's trail until it goes cold. Mary Margaret wonders if Emma's job as bonds bails person is good for finding people. Emma states it is viable in cities and relates how she got into the job from unsuccessfully searching for her birth parents. Abruptly, Henry leaps out to reveal knowledge about where John Doe is because he's looking for Mary Margaret. Emma wants to take Henry home, but Graham interrupts to show them John Doe's bloody hospital bracelet. They find John Doe passed out in the water near the Toll Bridge. While Graham calls an ambulance, Mary Margaret gives John Doe mouth to mouth resuscitation. Back at the hospital, John Doe's wife, Kathryn Nolan, rushes to reunite with her husband, whose real name is David Nolan. Emma finds it suspicious Kathryn didn't discover her husband's whereabouts until now, but lets it slide. That night, Emma changes her mind and moves into Mary Margaret's apartment. Emma is offered the position of deputy by Sheriff Graham, but takes time to think on it. At the diner, she apprehended by Regina about her history of never staying in one place for very long. Regina tries to persuade her to not disappoint Henry and just leave town now. After she is gone, Emma spills hot chocolate all over her shirt and is directed to a laundry machine in the back room. While changing clothes, she finds Ashley, a nineteen year-old pregnant maid, doing laundry. Ashley is in deep despair that no one believes she can be a good mother, to which Emma advises her to make changes if she is truly serious about keeping the baby. The next morning, Mr. Gold asks for Emma's help in tracking down Ashley, who broke into his shop, and disappeared. Along with Henry, Emma goes around questioning Ruby and Ashley's ex-boyfriend, Sean. From speaking with Sean's father, she learns about Ashley's adoption contract with Mr. Gold. After discovering Ruby lent Ashley a car, she and Henry rush to stop her from fleeing town for Boston. On the side of the road, Ashley is going into labor, to which Emma drives her back to the hospital. After receiving an announcement of Ashley's smooth delivery of a healthy baby girl, Mr. Gold comes to collect the baby, but Emma promises to owe him a favor if he tears the contract up. Agreeing to the deal, Mr. Gold leaves the hospital empty-handed. She drives Henry home just before Regina arrives back and sees him missing. On the side of the road, Emma decides to call Graham and accept the job of deputy to further cement roots in Storybrooke for Henry's sake. On the day she officially receives the deputy's badge, a large earthquake rumbles through Storybrooke. She and Graham investigate at a caved in sinkhole. Disdainfully, Regina catches on that Emma is now part of the police force team. She is assigned to push back the townspeople away from the mine damage, but is called, along with Archie, to the sidelines by Henry. He implies to them that there might be something down in the tunnels to prove the curse is real. Nonetheless, Emma is shooed back to doing her job when Regina intervenes. A few nights later, she advises Mary Margaret that it's no good to get involved with David since he is married. Henry makes an unexpected visit in tears as he tells them Archie called his fairytale theories delusional. After bringing him home, Emma goes to Archie's office to tell him off. Soon after, she gets a furious call from Regina asking where her son is. Archie concludes Henry has run away to the sinkhole to find proof of the curse. At the mine site, Archie dives into the sinkhole before the entrance collapses. With Archie's dog, Pongo, he tracks his owner and Henry's scents to a grate with an elevator shaft below. Emma is slowly lowered down to pull both Henry and Archie up. Safe and sound above ground, Emma goes to reunite with Henry, but Regina pushes her away from him. After David is released from the hospital, she and Henry attends his welcome home party. Emma tries to convince Henry that the reason David got lost a few nights back by the Toll Bridge is due to amnesia. Later, she is on night duty patrol since Graham excused himself with other priorities. As she drives by Regina's house, Emma spots someone climbing out the window. When Emma tackles the person, she discovers that it is Graham and figures out he has been having an affair with Regina. She leaves in disgust. Swinging by the diner for a late nightcap, Emma immediately bolts the minute she sees Graham inside. In a drunken stupor, he chases her down; attempting to explain his relationship with Regina is purely physical with no emotional attachments. She doesn't care for the explanation, but loses her guard when Graham kisses her. Harshly, she rejects him. In the morning, Emma scoffs upon seeing roses sitting on the apartment counter. Assuming they are from Graham, she tosses them into the garbage bin, however, Mary Margaret admits the flowers are for her from Dr. Whale. Mary Margaret can tell Emma is falling for Graham, despite that she doesn't want to face it. At work, Emma, bored, throws darts at a board when Regina enters. She notes Graham isn't in today and it must be because he spent the night with Regina. Emma is accused of having a more than professional relationship with Graham, but affirms anything that did happen meant nothing. As a final warning, Regina dissuades her from interfering in Graham's life and sending him down the wrong path. From Henry, Emma learns Graham consulted with him. Out of concern, Emma asks Graham what is actually wrong. He prattles about needing to find his heart by following a wolf. It all sounds insane to Emma until she actually sees a wolf behind Graham. They chase it to the cemetery where he recognizes a vault from Henry's story book. The door is locked, so Emma kicks it in. Graham doesn't find his heart inside, but they are caught by Regina. Graham cuts his ties with her and Regina blames Emma for it, even going so far as to hit her. The two women have a physical altercation until Graham breaks it up. Emma and Graham head back to the station where they share another kiss. Oddly, he pulls away and thanks her for helping him remember. Before she can ask him that means, he suddenly collapses and dies from a fatal heart attack. Two weeks later, Mr. Gold convinces Emma to become sheriff since she already is deputy. Before she can put the badge on, Regina fires her and plans to put Sidney as the new sheriff. Led on by Mr. Gold, Emma challenges Regina with the town charter rules, which state a mayor can only support a candidate and not instate one. Emma quickly wins support from the townspeople after rescuing Regina from a fire in town hall, which she later realizes was staged by Mr. Gold. On the day Emma gives her candidate electoral speech, she exits out of the race after indicting Mr. Gold as the fire-starter culprit to the townspeople. To Emma's surprise, her courage in standing up to Mr. Gold earns everyone's respect and she is elected as the new sheriff. She quickly gets her first job as sheriff afterwards when two orphans, Ava and Nicholas Zimmer, shoplift from Mr. Clark's store and Regina wants them to be sent to the foster system in Boston. In the middle of all this, Henry wants to know about his real father. Emma makes up a fake heroic story of his father dying as a firefighter while saving lives to spare him knowledge of the truth. Eventually, Emma finds the orphans' father, Michael Tillman, but he wants nothing to do with them. As she is leaving Storybrooke with the children for Boston, her car breaks down. She calls Michael, and when he arrives, she convinces him to take the children in. In the evening, she and Henry talk a nightly stroll when a mysterious man drives by into town on his motorcycle asking for the nearest inn. After he is gone, she asks Henry if strangers usually come to Storybrooke. He confirms they don't. The next day, Emma catches Mary Margaret in a lie when she claims to be helping her students build a volcano, but finds that she has been coming to the diner everyday at seven-fifteen in the morning to see David. Again, she presses Mary Margaret to not get mixed up with him. On the street, Regina orders Emma to check out the stranger in town. She confronts him to ask what he carries around in the wooden box strapped to his motorcycle. Only after she consents to his offer of a drink, he opens the box to reveal a typewriter and explains the town is writing inspiration for him. He leaves and promises to buy her a drink in the future. Once more, Emma butts heads with Regina. Like her, Sidney has been nursing a grudge against Regina since she fired him from his editing job. Emma is unsure about helping him, so he gives her his name card. However, when Regina tears down Henry's castle for so-called safety concerns, Emma becomes angry and calls Sidney. Together, they discover Regina is keeping quite a few secrets, such as embezzlement of fifty thousand dollars from the treasury and land she bought from Mr. Gold to build a house in the woods. When they expose her greed at the town meeting, Regina reveals her "house" is actually a modern playground for Henry and for all the children of Storybrooke. Humiliated and ashamed, Emma leaves, but Regina catches up and warns her to stay away from Henry, or else she will get a restraining order. Emma and Sidney go have a drink at the diner and vow to become allies against Regina's cruelty. On Valentine's Day, Mary Margaret, Ruby and Ashley all invite her to attend their girls' night out party, but she declines as work keeps things busy. She discovers that Mr. Gold has been robbed by Moe French and recovers all but one of the stolen items, which makes him very angry. Going on a hutch, Emma follows Mr. Gold into the woods and breaks into a shed to find him pummeling Moe. After she arrests and put him in a cell, Emma is bribed by Regina to allow her some alone time with Mr. Gold. In return, Emma is given free time with Henry, which they spend by grabbing some ice cream. Outside the diner, Emma bumps into the stranger, who gives his name as August W. Booth, and he finally takes her out for a drink. They ride his motorcycle to the wishing well and he fills her in on the lore of magic water that can restore something once lost. Emma and August both take sips from the well. Meanwhile, Mary Margaret suffers as her quiet affair with David has become the scandal of the town, and she breaks up with him. That night, Emma keeps a miserable Mary Margaret company. Emma notices Mary Margaret's reputation takes a dive after the whole roomful of people at the diner ignore her efforts to ask for Miner's Day festival volunteers. Following a quick chat with Mary Margaret, she heads to the site of Kathryn's disappearance to give David the news of his wife's missing status. Sidney procures inside information from a phone company with evidence of Kathryn's eight-minute long conversation with David. Though this makes David a possible suspect, Emma doesn't pursue the matter any further until Regina comes to the station looking for news on Kathryn. Regina threatens to replace Emma if she is covering for someone. Reluctantly, Emma goes to the festival and places David into custody as a person of interest in the case. She stays up all night interviewing David, but he sticks to his story of having nothing to do with Kathryn's disappearance. Emma grudgingly lets David leave and advises him to get a lawyer. As she is walking home, she meets up with Mary Margaret, and begins a conversation with her about David. At the corner, they see Ruby at the bus stop evading the advances of Dr. Whale. After forcing him to leave, they learn Ruby is out of a job and place to stay, so Emma and Mary Margaret take her in as an apartment roommate. Though Ruby has a difficult time finding a job, Emma recognizes that she has a knack for answering phones and hires her as an assistant. Just then, Mary Margaret walks in to notify Emma about how strange David is acting in the forest. She and Ruby head there to come across a delirious and bleeding David. At the hospital, Dr. Whale diagnoses it as a blackout similar to what David experienced just after waking up from the coma. Regina barges in to demand David's arrest. To keep that from happening, Emma instructs Ruby to look for something useful for the investigation before David goes into another trance. Ruby complies and finds a box with a human heart in it, but decides the job is not for her and resigns. Afterwards, Emma runs scans on the box for fingerprints. She goes to the animal shelter to inform David and Mary Margaret of the results. Rather than David, the prints are Mary Margaret's. Left little choice, Emma arrests and brings her into the sheriff department to begin taking mug shots. Mary Margaret insists that she has been framed. Though Emma believes her, she has to do her job or face the wraith of Regina. She takes Mary Margaret to an interrogation room. Mary Margaret is outraged, but Emma must adhere to her job as sheriff. She questions Mary Margaret as a suspect as Regina sits by as a third-party to ensure Emma is being unbiased. Inadvertently, Mary Margaret reveals the jewelry box found containing Kathryn's heart belongs to her. To this, Regina sympathizes with how Mary Margaret must be feeling as a woman spurned and placed into a "dark place". Outside the room, Emma tells Regina not to comment during the interrogation, though the mayor attests that a heartbroken woman is capable of doing unspeakable things. More and more evidence builds against Mary Margaret, but Emma remains a staunch ally. Emma advises her to find a lawyer, at which Mr. Gold offers his services. Mary Margaret accepts. Meanwhile, Emma goes to check for signs of a break-in at the apartment. Henry insists that Regina is framing Mary Margaret and presents a set of keys from Regina's office as proof, which he claims can open any door in Storybrooke. After some tries, one of the keys successfully unlocks the door, to Emma's astonishment. Emma discovers a knife hidden in the air vent, and confronts Mary Margaret over this, but she continues to claim innocence. She believes Mary Margaret is being framed and begins trying to work against the building case. That night, she walks into the sheriff department in an active conversation with Mr. Gold. Henry praises her for the escape plan, but Emma has no idea what he is talking about until finding Mary Margaret missing from the cell. Mr. Gold urges that Mary Margaret must be found before eight o'clock, which is the time of the arraignment as well as when Regina will arrive at the station and discover her gone. Emma goes out in search of Mary Margaret and accidentally hits a man, Jefferson, on the road. To make it up to him, she drives Jefferson home. He invites Emma into his house and offers her some tea. After drinking it, she passes out and awakens to find herself bound up. To break free, Emma smashes a tea cup with a pillow and uses one of the broken edges to cut out her way out. She sneaks past Jefferson, who is sharpening a pair of scissors, and discovers Mary Margaret in a separate room. They attempt to escape, but are caught by Jefferson. Emma is taken to a separate room filled with hats and commanded by Jefferson to make a hat so that he can go back to the Enchanted Forest. Since he believes himself to be the Mad Hatter, she concludes that Jefferson must be in on Henry's theory. He refuses to let her go until she makes a hat "work", though Emma only makes an unfinished bowler hat. Jefferson shows her a telescope image of a girl next door, who he believes is his daughter, Grace. To gain his trust, Emma pretends to sympathize by declaring that she thinks Mary Margaret is her own mother. When his back is turned, she hits him on the head with the telescope and hurries to Mary Margaret. A brief struggle with Jefferson ensues, but Mary Margaret hits and kicks him out the window. They begin leaving after finding no sign of Jefferson anywhere. Emma offers Mary Margaret the option of taking her car and leaving for Boston or going back to the jail. She confesses fears about being lonely if Mary Margaret leaves because she considers her to be family. Mary Margaret decides to go back to the jail. In the aftermath, Emma meets up with Henry at school when the same girl Jefferson pointed out to her, Paige, walks past. She borrows Henry's book and turns to a section showing a photo of the Mad Hatter and his daughter. Emma is confused by the photographic resemblance. While headed off to work, she is approached by David, who clarifies his last encounter with Mary Margaret, and that he doesn't actually think she is guilty. David wants to see her in person, but Emma presses that Mary Margaret doesn't want visitors, and the last person she needs to hear from is him. At the sheriff's office, Mr. Gold suggests Mary Margaret's personality can help the charges get dropped, so Emma thinks it'd be a good idea to allow an interview with the District Attorney. In passing, Sidney hands over flowers for Emma, though he is regretful to not finding anything in the case showing Regina is involved. From outside the room, Emma and Regina watch the interview between the District Attorney Mr. Spencer and Mary Margaret. However, it all goes awry when Mary Margaret has an agitated outburst over her innocence being called into question and admits in the heat of the moment that she "wanted Kathryn gone", which serves as a murder confession. Later, Emma is approached by August, who gives her some advice on revisiting old information in the case to discover new tidbits. They go past the Toll Bridge where Ruby found the jewelry box with the human heart in it. While examining the hole, she finds a shovel shard. Emma has a hunch about whose shovel it is, and enlists the help of Henry to infiltrate Regina's garage. Inside, Emma finds a shovel with a chipped off piece, which is a perfect fit with the broken shard. Having found the link Regina has both to the crime scene and as a suspect in the case, Emma comes to the front door the next day with a search warrant to look in the shed. To her surprise, the shovel is now fully intact. Thinking she has been betrayed, she confronts August about his double crossing by assisting Regina, but he claims his innocence profusely; something Emma has a hard time believing. Later, the police come to take Mary Margaret away in preparation for the trial. She is upset that putting her trust in Mr. Gold has yielded no help for Mary Margaret, though he claims there is still time to "work a little magic". Unable to simmer her frustration, Emma hurls the vase of flowers in her office across the room. It smashes, and between the broken glass and wet flowers, she finds an audio spying device. This helps her realize Sidney was spying on her, not August. She quickly finds and apologies to August. Then, they hear Ruby's frantic scream behind the diner. Emma goes into the alley to investigate and finds a battered up and alive Kathryn. During Kathryn's recovery stay at the hospital, Emma goes to take a statement from her. Kathryn remembers being kidnapped and kept alive in a dark basement where food and water were readily available, but there was never anyone around. She recounts being drugged, waking up in a field near town and crawling her way to the alley. With one job done, Emma approaches Sidney at the diner to let him know she is aware of his backstabbing. Though Sidney does not deny Regina is dangerous, he also admits to being in love with her. She leaves him an ultimatum to help her find the evidence Regina is behind Mary Margaret's false murder charge, or go down with Regina once incriminating proof is found. Since Kathryn's reappearance, Mary Margaret is relieved of any wrongdoing in the case. Emma throws her a welcome home party in the apartment as many town residents show up for the celebration. She has suspicions that Mr. Gold may have kidnapped and held Kathryn hostage, but he plays off her claims. Emma sends Henry home early to keep Regina from finding out where he's been. As she opens the door, David is on the other side. Since Mary Margaret is not ready to speak to him yet, she asks him to walk Henry home. Later in the night, Emma goes back to the sheriff's office where Regina comes forward with a confession. To her annoyance, Sidney admits to having abducted Kathryn in the hopes he might obtain his editor job back. She doesn't believe him and leads Regina out to the hallway for a talk. Once they are alone, Emma cannot hold back from containing her disgust at Regina's scheming ways. Regina reveals nothing in her involvement in kidnapping Kathryn, but Emma has had it with the mayor. She vows to make her pay, especially since Regina once took away someone she loved, and now she will do the same by fighting for custody of her son, Henry. Emma turns to Mr. Gold for assistance in taking on Regina so she can have Henry. He refuses to help, so this points her into August's direction as an alternative. He takes her to a road in the woods and confronts Emma with the truth—that she is the savior and must save everyone from the curse. August introduces himself as Pinocchio, the seven-year-old that found her when she was an infant, and to prove his point, he shows her his leg. To Emma, she sees nothing but a normal leg. She moves to walk away, to which August angrily scolds her for not believing that everyone needs her. Emma does not want responsibility for others, which she claims the role of sheriff gives her. Taking matters into her own hands, she picks up Henry for a drive in her car, but is actually leaving town with him. Henry begs Emma not to depart from Storybrooke since she still needs to save everyone from the curse. However, she'd rather bring him out of town so he can be away from Regina for good. When she doesn't listen to Henry, he purposely swerves the car as the vehicle crashes into a ditch. Pushed by his insistent pleads that Emma's family needs her, she decides to drop the plan for now. Emma returns to the apartment to face a disappointed roommate. Mary Margaret is very upset, despite that Emma once considered them as family, she left without a word. She admits to not wanting the role of sheriff and people relying on her. Emma confesses she attempted to take Henry with her as well. Mary Margaret calls attention to the fact kidnapping Henry has never been what's best for a child, and Emma just wants to run away by reverting into the previous person she used to be. She takes Mary Margaret's advice by figuring out what is best for Henry, and goes to confer with Archie about gaining custody. He doesn't see the chances as very likely since Henry has been continuously misbehaving since her arrival in town. Out of choices, she informs Regina that she is leaving Storybrooke, but wants visitation with Henry. Regina agrees and gives her a baked apple turnover as a parting travel treat. As Emma is packing up her belongs in the apartment, Henry enters. She lets him know her reasons for leaving town, that other people shouldn't be hurt in the tug-of-war with Regina, and the two have a farewell hug. However, he is uneasy at the sight of Regina's apple turnover on the counter. Henry snatches the turnover and states that she may not believe in the curse or in him, but he believes in her. Then, he bites into the turnover and faints. Horrified at the turn of events, Emma takes Henry to the hospital and refuses to leave his side. While checking his bag, she grabs the book and receives a flash of memories of her brief time in the Enchanted Forest. She attacks Regina, realizing that it is her fault Henry is sick. Regina admits everything, and together they set off to Mr.Gold's. He gives Emma her father's sword, and Regina guides her to Maleficent's underground prison. Abandoning the sword early on, Emma uses her gun on the dragon; to no avail. Eventually, she slays Maleficent with the sword, and retrieves the true love potion. As she is travelling up the elevator, it stops suddenly and Emma calls for help. Mr. Gold answers, claiming Regina has "run off". She tosses him the egg, which he leaves with. She climbs up to see Regina tied up and frees her. They prepare to go after Mr. Gold, but receive an urgent call from the hospital and learn upon arrival that Henry has passed. Emma kisses Henry's forehead as a goodbye; inadvertently triggering the effects of true love's kiss. He comes back to life as the curse breaks and a purple smoke engulfs town.